Sometimes we just need to take the bullet.
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October 12, 1912. Theodore Roosevelt was on the campaign trail. He’s in an open car in Milwaukee. He stood to greet the crowd and give his speech. An unemployed saloon keeper stepped forward and shot him from five feet away.
Fortunately, he had a 50-page speech and his glasses case in his coat jacket. The bullet actually went through the speech, through the glasses case, and lodged between his third and fourth rib on an upward trajectory to his heart.
He hushed the crowd. Teddy said, “Ladies and gentleman, I urge you to be as quiet as possible. I don’t know if you understand that I’ve been shot.” Everyone urged him to go to the hospital. They tried to kill the shooter right on the spot. Of course, his people wanted to whisk Teddy Roosevelt away, and he said NO. He wanted to give his speech. With a bullet lodged in his body, he spoke for 90 minutes before going to the hospital.
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Guys, someone can make a negative comment on our blog or while reviewing our work, and it sideswipes us. It can put us down for the day, down for the count. We begin wondering if we should even be in this business.
We take a step towards something that doesn’t go as well as we think it should, and we feel like giving up.
We make promises to ourselves and others about the goals that we’re going to make, or weight that we’re going to lose, or direction that we’re going to go. Then, we hit a little speed bump or a little hiccup, or we go by Dunkin’ Donuts, and suddenly our entire goal and the plan is just laid out, and we want to quit.
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We promised we’re going to get up and run, and it was cold outside, so we skip it and crawl back to the sheets.
We decide that we’re going to be focused one day, and we’re completely unfocused the next day.
We say we’re going to write the book, but we can’t even get up and turn on the computer.
We want to be a better parent, but we won’t take one step toward it; reading books or articles, or rearranging our schedule for our kids.
We can easily give up….
…Or, sometimes, we just need to take the bullet, figuratively speaking of course.
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Photo: Flickr/ Sven Breitkopf
That’s not Teddy Roosevelt in the photograph, that’s Franklin D Roosevelt and his dog Fala.